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Original poster

At what age is it normal to remember childhood from?

108 replies

user40816 · 12/04/2023 22:43

I realised today that I have almost no memory before the age of around 7 and even afterwards, things are hazy. But then I also realise I don't know what's normal so I'm interested to gain some perspective...

OP posts:
Drusillagobwitch · 13/04/2023 07:36

I can remember odd events from about 2 but no real memories until 4 - playing in the sandpit at home.

itssquidstella · 13/04/2023 07:41

My first dateable memory is from before my brother was born, so I was younger than two. I remember him being born when I was 25 months and from that point on I have a tonne of memories, obviously increasing in number as I got older.

BertieBotts · 13/04/2023 07:42

The thing is you'll get misleading answers because when we remember things we actually reconstruct the events, so things get muddled up in time. People ascribe memories of when they were 7+ and assume they were much younger at the time.

Late primary is when people tend to have more "normal" memories. Earlier than this it's only significant events which stand out or random snippets that you think well wait - I must have been younger than 6 because it was at that house, or my dad was there, or something.

Remember also many parents keep family albums and tell stories through them, so it's common to think that you remember a holiday you went on aged 4 or so but actually you're remembering the pictures and your parents telling stories from that holiday.

itssquidstella · 13/04/2023 07:46

In reply to a PP, I was an early talker and I’m also an overthinker; I’ve had the habit of replaying the day's events in my head from being really young. I also loved to talk about my early childhood when I was an older child, so I think a lot of memories that would otherwise have faded have been solidified by revisiting them in my head/in conversation so frequently.

NoraLuka · 13/04/2023 07:47

I remember random things from when I was 2/3, like the cups they had at nursery (bright colours with polka dots!) and random events from 4/5 like the time the passport control people wouldn’t let us through because DM had a different name to me and my brother on our passports.

First proper memory must have been when I was 3, and the next door neighbour came round with a huge crate of Playmobil and said ‘this is for you, my kids are too big to play with it now’ and I literally couldn’t believe my luck!

Newnamenewname109870 · 13/04/2023 07:48

I’ve found the older I’ve got the less I remember. As a kid I used to remember loads around aged 3 (things there aren’t photos of or I’ve been told about) but now I can’t really.

bumpytrumpy · 13/04/2023 07:55

milkysmum · 13/04/2023 01:14

Gosh you all have such early memories. Im in my 40s and have so few early memories. Certainly non from before starting school, a tiny amount ( snap shots) from primary, and huge chunks missing from secondary that seems odd ( I don't remember things like my first day at high school, can't picture the classrooms, nor do I remember sitting my gsces! ). I did them, I did well, went on to college, university etc. I just don't seem to store memories well for some reason. Anyone else similar?

Yes I'm more like you!

Oldnproud · 13/04/2023 08:00

Clear, vivid memories of an injury at 2.5. Other vague memories that might be even earlier. Many from age 3.

Ancientwater · 13/04/2023 08:06

I know I’m unusual but I have clear memories from the age of 2. The most vivid being when we moved house when I was 2. I clearly remember the details of the house we moved from.

Aphrathestorm · 13/04/2023 08:09

Me and my dc remember from 3. DP nothing pre school.

BigFatFailure1 · 13/04/2023 08:11

I have one memory from age 3, one from age 6, and more thereafter.

Interestingly the 2 early memories are slightly traumatic events, don't remember any of the mundane or fun stuff until much later.

Zonder · 13/04/2023 08:11

We moved countries when I was 3 and I have a few memories of life there. A few from before I was 6, including first day at primary. Lots from 6 onwards.

Oldnproud · 13/04/2023 08:12

I've just remembered - as a young adult, i came across a photo I'd never seen before from when I was between 12 and 16 months old. Suddenly, a hazy memory that I'd grown up with made sense- my memory had been of looking down at some wooden tracks, and in the photo, I was sitting in a car on a roundabout, looking down at the wooden tracks. I hadn't remembered the car, just those tracks!

useitorlose · 13/04/2023 08:16

I have several memories from before age 5, but aged 3-4. We moved houses and schools a lot because my dad was in the military so it's easier to pin them down.

IDontWantToBeAPie · 13/04/2023 08:18

I remember a couple of flashes from 5ish and then more solidly from 7+

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 13/04/2023 08:29

I remember only the odd incident from pre about 6. First birthday - because a GM arrived when I was in the bath and brought me a big teddy. (I still have him many decades later.)
First day at school. And another girl crying because she’d wet herself - I did wonder why on earth she had, since we’d been shown the loos and told that we didn’t need to ask, we could just go. (Enlightened school for those days.)

Being told I had a new baby sister (born at home) and seeing her for the first time. (Nearly 6)

Considerably earlier, probably well under 2, Christmas at a GM’s house, when I was put to bed in a padded drawer!! - and seeing a doll on the Christmas tree and wanting it - and later being given it!

lordloveadog · 13/04/2023 08:40

I have a lot of memories from about 2.5 - starting playgroup, being there, what we did, snacks, songs, the other kids, finding a hedgehog on the way one morning...

Not at all stuff anyone has photos of or discussed with me, as pp suggested.

Some vaguer memories from just before that, like the mother and toddler group my mum took me too. And one day when she left me with a childminder and it seemed incredibly noisy and chaotic and I hated it.

From 2.5 on very clear and vivid memories of pretty much everything, everywhere and everybody until I had children and destroyed my sleep.

WeWereInParis · 13/04/2023 08:53

I have more memories from 4/5. And one memory from 3, but it's a blurry memory of being in hospital with a broken bone - I'm assuming I remember it because it was so different to day to day stuff.

OriGanOver · 13/04/2023 09:01

Interesting question OP.

I think it's easy to remember photos as memories when it's not a memory if that makes sense.

I remember vividly me and my friend at nursery who had white blonde hair sitting outside in the nursery garden with a cabbage patch doll. I'm guessing I was around 3/4.

I also remember my friends older brother calling me names when I was around 3/4.

I remember my bedroom before we moved and I was 4 when we moved.

My other early memories I think are photo's and not true memories.

BlackeyedSusan · 13/04/2023 09:08

I remember one thing from my house which we moved from before I was 2 years and 4 months.

thecatsthecats · 13/04/2023 09:09

BobBobBobbing · 12/04/2023 23:09

Me and my mother once had an animated debate with a doctor who insisted it was medically impossible to remember anything from before the age of 5. I can clearly remember things from before my brother was born which was when I was 2.5. Including a street party for Charles and Di's wedding when I was 18 months old. My mum has similar memories from an early age.

I was could read by age 2 though so I wonder if my brain was just very good at laying down memories and I solidified them in a way that most people don't.

Well that doctor was definitely wrong, because technically we don't remember ANYTHING in a pure way, regardless of age. We remember the last time we remembered it, and layer on little inaccuracies along the way. We spent quite some time covering the phenomenon in my history degree to examine first hand sources.

My earliest memories are about age three. A donkey ride at my sister's school fair, and a holiday to the Scottish isles. Actually, also going to my mum to show her some writing that everyone made a fuss of - I was an early reader and writer too.

BlackeyedSusan · 13/04/2023 09:11

.... And definitely two things from when I was 2 years 4-10 months. (Living at Grandma's and visiting our house when we were buying it. ) I might remember other things but I can't definitively date them.

BobBobBobbing · 13/04/2023 09:14

A lot of my early memories are really sensory based. The feel of a balloon on my fingers and the unusual colour (a metallic pink), sitting in front of an open fire eating asparagus spears dipped in melted butter, the crunch of a sugar lump from grandma, the smell of grandpa's greenhouse, the smell of Nanny's oil of ulay, the texture of foam on top of Grandad's Guiness when I put my fingers in it, the feel of the brick wall in the yard, bouncing on a giant floor cushion. All from a house we lived in when I was very small and not things you can get from a photo.

PorridgeMonster1 · 13/04/2023 09:15

Vague memory of painting at preschool, also the book corner of my reception classroom and sitting in there looking at books with a girl who had pink glasses called Felicity, who left the school soon after. All quite vague memories but more solid memories from probably 6-7 upwards?

Saschka · 13/04/2023 09:16

I have one or two memories from age 3, and quite a few clear memories from age 4. DS is 6, and has no memories earlier than 3 even now (we lived in another country and he doesn’t remember it when we show him pictures).

DSIL claims to remember things from essentially birth, but actually gets a lot of the details wrong - I think she remembers being told about things, or remembers seeing photos, and is then “creating” false memories based on that.

It’s annoying for DH as she is always going on about her amazing photographic memory, and won’t have it that she is wrong about something she allegedly remembers from age 1, even when DH (four years older) and DPIL all remember the event completely differently.